Jackie Milad’s “Undoing the Knotted Parts” references a 19th-century phenomenon in which British aristocrats and scholars would organize “mummy unrolling parties,” drawing in large crowds to observe the unbandaging of ancient Egyptian mummies. At Pentimenti Gallery, Milad’s collaged, sewn, and mounted textile pieces avoid the mere spectacle of these events, offering a commentary on identity, heritage, and the cyclical nature of life and death instead.

As a collage work on paper, What Happens on Earth Stays on Earth (2023) pulls together disparate iconographies into a complex picture. Elsewhere, in the sculpture series “Shabtis Gather,” Milad refers to her Honduran and Egyptian heritage in these sculptural works made of epoxy resin and decorated with acrylic paint. These pieces reimagine ancient Egyptian funerary figurines, which act as symbols of her heritage and remembrance, challenging viewers to reconsider the meanings we assign to cultural artifacts.

This exhibition is a part of (re)FOCUS 2024, a program that celebrates women artists across Philadelphia.

Celebrate the opening of the newest Interventions installation Buscando la sirena. Artist Jackie Milad will join Jen Sudul Edwards, chief curator and curator of contemporary art, for an artist talk about her inspiration and process.

Jackie Milad makes paintings, collages, and sculptures that explore global migration, inspired by her identity as a first-generation American citizen. A daughter of immigrants—her father is Egyptian, and her mother is from the Gulf of Fonseca, a small region that is now part of Honduras—Milad’s work mines archaeological traditions of reading and trading cultural artifacts both by outsiders and those whose heritage is imbued within the artifacts.

“Buscando la sirena” delves into her mother’s heritage through created works and selected objects from the Mint’s permanent collection that connect to the Gulf of Fonseca.

Jackie Milad, Fred Wilson, and Nekisha Durrett discuss their contributions to Histories Collide, an exhibition that showcases Milad and Durrett's winning installations alongside Fred Wilson’s sculpture Artemis/Bast (1992) following an open call to regional artists.

Lisa Graziose Corrin, Ellen Philips Katz Director of The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, moderated the conversation.

This program is produced in partnership with the Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center at Johns Hopkins University: https://tabbcenter.library.jhu.edu

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"Our interview with Jackie Milad follows her work in the exhibition Histories Collide with Fred Wilson and Nekisha Durrett. Milad talks about her experience touring Egypt and researching Egyptian collection objects at The British Museum".

Open Air with Jackie Milad hosted by curator Dexter Wimberly is an opportunity to get behind-the-scenes access to Milad's artwork. Recorded on Tuesday, December 13, 2022.